LEONI TWP., MI – Chris Pohl, the Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety officer whose patrol vehicle hit another vehicle while Pohl was on his way to a fire, was found to be at fault.

“He was traveling far too fast,” said Chris Kuhl, the Jackson County undersheriff. “The other driver never had the opportunity to yield.”

Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety officer Chris Pohl.

Pohl was responding to a house fire in Grass Lake Township about 7 p.m. Friday, April 25. He was driving east on Flansburg Road, near Hoyer Road when he crashed into the car, Paula Maria Stone, 18, was driving.

Stone also was driving east on Flansburg Road and attempted to pull into her driveway. Pohl went to pass her in the westbound lane and as she turned, the front, right corner of the Tahoe hit the front, left corner of the car, Kuhl said.

Although Pohl was driving in “emergency traffic mode” at a high rate of speed, he is still expected to operate with “due care and caution,” Kuhl said.

That did not happen in this case.

Kuhl said they do not know, at this time, how fast Pohl was driving. Both Stone and Pohl suffered minor injuries. Pohl was taken to Allegiance Health and released after a few hours.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash, but Kuhl said it would be up to the Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Director to determine what disciplinary action will take place, if any.